[Jeff D]

My rebates were filed in January two in one envelope, just like instructed to do when I called about it. One of the rebates was paid the other not. I've been trying to get this ironed out for the past few months.


When I first discoverd the problem, a few weeks after the original mailing, I was told the original submission would need to be pulled from archive and this could take 4 weeks. During that 4 weeks I called and called to check if the status had changed. After 5 weeks I went to supervisiors and had them look into it. The supervisors weren't much help, they could only submit additional requests to pull the original claim forms from archive.


On March 14th, after the 5 week delay while in archive searching I contacted the rebate center for the 6 or 7th time. A supervisor named Eric was going to be in on Saturday and would have my check approved. He told me in no uncertain terms, "The check is approved, I should see the check in 7 to 10 days"


I have yet to recieve the check as of today, April 8th.


I called back and talked to Eric today. This gets much more interesting... the check is still in the pending status. AND it looks like it's NOT going to be paid anytime soon.


The rebate center has all pending rebates on hold until they hear from SB. I spoke to Eric's supervisor, Jennifer, she informed me about the chapt 11 filing. Not news to me I told her. I was trying to get her to understand that my rebate had been approved and promised to me before SB announced any Chapt 11 filiing. Because of the chap 11 status payments aren't going out. Turns out the rebate center doesn't get funds in advance for rebate processing. (I specualted in a thread about the newest rebates... Rebate house is just another creditor in the line of creditors looking for the cash owed them...)


So, this is pretty bad news for all waiting on rebates. I'm currently on the phone with american express to see if I'm covered for anything like this. I doubt it, but I have to check.

 

[RandyL712]



 

[sfhub]

That is indead bad news. A word of caution though, I've had rebate

people tell me all sorts of things that were sometimes inaccurate to

get me off the phone. If they start telling everybody this, then I think

it came from the top down.

 

[SKrueger]

Unfortunately, it kind of makes sense. If my understanding of Chapter 11 is correct any debts incurred before the filing (which would include rebates due) are frozen. Any payments on pre-exisiting debt must be authorized by the bankruptcy judge/administrator based on however the court decides to distribute funds (if any) to all creditors. And certain creditors do have priority in repayment. Now I'm not sure how anyone that filed their rebate after the Chapter 11 would be handled as those would be new debts not covered under the bankruptcy.

 

[Jeff D]

sfhub, today I heard that from the CS, the supervisor and then the supervisor's supervisor. Jennifer was very forthcoming with the information and I don't think she was trying to get rid of me. Her company is in the same boat with the rest of us...



On a good note, I contacted Amex and they are at least investigating my claim. This gets a bit strange because CC was the merchant and has nothing to do with the rebates. So the supervisors at Amex decided to dispute $50 of my original charge.

 

[ReplayLyndon]

There might be a small delaying in processing some rebates because of bankruptcy ct, but the rebates will still be fulfilled.


Lyndon

 

[sfhub]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeff D sfhub, today I heard that from the CS, the supervisor and then the supervisor's supervisor. Jennifer was very forthcoming with the information and I don't think she was trying to get rid of me. Her company is in the same boat with the rest of us...

I was in the same boat as you a couple of weeks ago and they tried to

suggest I mail in photocopies so they could investigate. I kept calling

back until I got a more receptive CS rep who was able to just issue a

new check which I received in 5 days (and cashed).


There is certainly ample reason to believe that what they said is what

is happening. My point was more that I've had experiences in the past

where I got inconsistent responses from the reps ranging from you

are screwed to I can cut a check for you right away.


Another way you could look at my comments is, on the off chance there

wasn't an edict from the top down, there may be some inconsistent

communication and you may be able to find a rep that sees things your

way.

 

[PVR4Me]

Quote:

Originally posted by SKrueger Unfortunately, it kind of makes sense. If my understanding of Chapter 11 is correct any debts incurred before the filing (which would include rebates due) are frozen. Any payments on pre-exisiting debt must be authorized by the bankruptcy judge/administrator based on however the court decides to distribute funds (if any) to all creditors. And certain creditors do have priority in repayment. Now I'm not sure how anyone that filed their rebate after the Chapter 11 would be handled as those would be new debts not covered under the bankruptcy.

This was pointed out before here but many here said it could never happen. Hope RePlayLyndon is right.

 

[jones07]

And up until today and this one post. Everyone EVERYONE have gotten their rebates. Since that post was made. I have gotten all of my rebate checks $200 worth. and so have everyone else.

majortom, was wrong then on 01-17-03 and I believe he is still wrong now.

 

[Jeff D]

I hope Lyndon is right. And I know the only reason the rebate house isn't paying is because they are unsure of if there is money coming.


Rebate says 10-12 weeks, which had passed not too long ago. On the other hand, my purchase protection provided to me by my credit card was about to expire. I had to try before my options disappear.


As I understand it, there is NO guarentee that you will ever get your money. I really wish there were laws put into place to protect the consumer from stuff like this.

 

[majortom]

Quote:

Originally posted by jones07 And up until today and this one post. Everyone EVERYONE have gotten their rebates. Since that post was made. I have gotten all of my rebate checks $200 worth. and so have everyone else. majortom, was wrong then on 01-17-03 and I believe he is still wrong now.

What I said was:

Quote:

Actually, one has to remember that all those outstanding rebates count as company debt that can be voided (and based on precedent are unlikely to be honored).

Can you explain how your getting your rebate checks before SONICblue filed for protection under chapter 11 bankruptcy protection has anything to do with what I said, or makes me wrong? My statement is based on the law, if you can find some legal reference that contradicts what I have said, please let us see it.


/carmi

 

[beethoven]

I guess I got lucky. I bought my Replay on 2/1 and sent my rebates in the following week. I received my SB rebate check the day after they filed Chapter 11 (mosted likely mailed out before the filing), and I deposited it a few days later. My Best Buy rebate came a week or so ago, and I just deposited that one.

 

[twobits]

You might all be interested to note that SB has extended the rebate program - now April 1st, 2003 through June 30th, 2003.


I'd say they intend to honor rebates....

 

[sfhub]

Quote:

Originally posted by twobits I'd say they intend to honor rebates....

Who is "they"?

 

[RandyL712]

You know...

 

[jones07]

Quote:

Originally posted by majortom What I said was: Can you explain how your getting your rebate checks before SONICblue filed for protection under chapter 11 bankruptcy protection has anything to do with what I said, or makes me wrong? My statement is based on the law, if you can find some legal reference that contradicts what I have said, please let us see it. /carmi

My point is even with chapter 11 my opinion is people will get there Rebate checks. I believe you are wrong about buyers not getting their rebate.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There might be a small delaying in processing some rebates because of bankruptcy ct, but the rebates will still be fulfilled.


Lyndon



__________________

SONICblue

ReplayTV Customer Care

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[bkrodgers]

They *may* still honor them, but the bankruptcy could easily mean that they don't have to. But more to the point, look at how the rebates are fulfilled.


- You send your rebate form to a 3rd party processing company.

- If Jeff's information is correct, this processing company does not get the money from SB for the rebates in advance. In that case, then, the processing company is paying you themselves and billing SB for reimbursement (plus their processing fees).


Right now, there's NO guarantee that the rebate firm will ever see another penny from SB. They're just another creditor, and they could easily end up sending out thousands of dollars of their money that they'll never see back. If it was my firm, I'd certainly freeze the processing until I had some confidence that SB was going to pay the bill I'm planning on sending them. So I'm not sure that it even matters if SB says that they intend to honor the rebates. Until they've taken care of assuring the rebate processing company that they will get their money, I doubt you'll see rebate checks. And given that SB is days away from selling off the ReplayTV business (which may or may not include honoring past obligations such as rebates), I'm guessing that the rebate company won't start sending out checks again until SB walks in their door with a nice briefcase full of cash.


-Brian

 

[jones07]

I sure SB will tell the Rebate processing company that the check is in the mail. It always works for me

 

[Jeff D]

I had posted another thread asking if anyone had problems with cashing checks because of the funds question. Who's bank account are the checks charged against, the rebate center or SB? I don't think either is a safe bet at this point.


I'm not exactly sure about chapt 11, but I believe that all bank accounts are frozen when chapt 11 is filed for. That being the case checks "should" bounce. Unless there are special rules set in place by the ruling judge to allow rebate checks to pay out. (not sure how they'd do this unless the rebate account is a unique account setup for rebate payments.


If the checks are drawn on the rebate center's account I could see them freezing the funds and account to protect themselves.


But, without inside information on how this "scam" works (I think rebates are scams) it's all just speculation.


All you can do it sit back and hope it's worked out.


If anyone remembers cyberrebates chapt 11 filing there were protections in place for some consumers through the credit card companies. The CC companies hold funds before paying out to merchants for reasons just like this. But, in this case unless you bought your ReplayTV from SB I doubt you (or I) will have any luck with the CC company.

 

[lizard_boy]

For the most part rebates aren't scams, it's just the lazy subsidising the cheaper purchasing power of those willing to take the time to send in and keep track of rebates. If 100% of people actually mailed in their rebates they wouldn't be offered, it only works with a large percentage of people not bothering to mail them in. In three or four years of online shopping I've only gotten burned on one $10 rebate from linksys, and I made them pay for it.


I lost $10 on cyberrates (should have made $10 on the deal) but I think anyone dumb enough to tie up thousands of dollars with them got what they deserved, it was obvious (to me at least) that they were headed straight for the crapper.


EDIT - Occasionally they are scams, I bought a Compaq laptop last December, so did three of my friends. All four of us got our initial rebate submissions denied because "our handwritten serial numbers could not be read." What a load of BS, that was just HP/Compaq trying to weed out some rebates. Carly Whatever-the-f***-her-name-is deserves a swift kick in the ass for that one.